“Nay,” he answered and laughed, “just your husband, Ham.”
Flora couldn’t help but laugh too, “this is no time to be an arse.”
“No cussing,” he said, giving her two quick swats on her arse. Smack, smack .
“Oh,” Flora groaned.
Ham’s fingers were absolutely soaked. When he playfully swatted his wife on the arse, she had gushed juices all down his fingers. He pulled his fingers out and began to spread the wetness all around her bottom hole, slowly working a finger into the opening.
“Ham,” Flora squealed.
“Hush,” he said, giving her two more playful swats. Smack, smack . Again her juices came pouring out and dribbled down her thigh.
This time when he put his finger at the opening to her bottom hole, he also lined his cock up at her cunny hole, pushing both in with one big thrust. “Ahhhh,” was all Flora could get out as she pushed her hips back against him, wanting him to go deeper.
Ham keep one hand on her hip, as he pulled his cock out of her cunny and thrust it back in to the hilt. He started to work up a rhythm where he would pull his cock out of her cunny as he pushed his finger into her arse, when he pulled his finger back he would thrust forward with his hips. Flora became lost in the sensations. She didn’t know what felt better, his cock or his finger, she wanted to push back against both. Ham began thrusting into her harder until you could hear the sound of their skin as it slapped together. Soon she felt her muscles tighten and couldn’t stop the scream that escaped as she came. Ham could care less how much noise they were making, once his wife tightened around him it was like being in a vice. He pushed his finger up her arse as far as it would go as he thrust forward one last time, shooting his load far up inside her before pulling out and collapsing beside her.
“Was that alright?” he asked concerned, afraid he may have hurt her.
“I’m more than alright,” she said. “That was wonderful.”
Ham chuckled and pulled her into his arms. “I think you about killed me,” he said to her as they both slipped into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 11 Taking a Risk
“Next time we go to Edinburgh I’ll make sure we can stay a bit longer,” Ham said.
“It was fine,” Flora said. “It was nice just to get to see it. The market was fun. I’d never seen one so big before.”
“Next time I’ll take you to Glasgow,” he said. “It’s got more shops than Edinburgh.”
“How can that be?” she asked.
“It’s located right on the water, so lots of trade goods are shipped into the harbor there. We could visit James if you wanted to go there in the spring,” Ham said.
“I might like that,” she said as the walls of Gleann came into view. The gates were open, and it looked like a party was getting ready to ride out. “I wonder what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but it looks important,” Ham said, a bit concerned. “Let’s go see.” he nudged his large horse in the sides and Diabhal shot forward, Flora’s horse instantly followed as they galloped the rest of the way to the gates.
“You’re back,” Alastair said from his horse. “You’ll have to tell us about your trip when we get back.”
“What’s going on?” Ham asked.
“It seems some of the village children went out to the fields to play this afternoon and never came back,” Alastair said. “We’ve organized a search party. Hopefully, they just wandered further away than they should have, and it’s just taking them a bit longer than they planned to return.”
“We’ll help,” Flora said. “Let me run up and grab my bag, just in case anyone is hurt.”
“That’ll be fine,” Eadan said, riding up and joining them. “With any luck, we won’t need them, but it might be a good idea to have your supplies just in case.”
While Flora ran to grab her satchel of herbs and bandages, Eadan gathered the group around him. “Connor and Rory, I’d like you to take two men and head south. Alastair and Craig, take two of the men and head north. Owen can come with Da and me, we’ll go east, and Ham and Ross can take Flora and go west. If you find them get word back to the castle. They’ll put a signal out that all is well with the flags.”
The group nodded and headed out in their assigned directions. Flora returned, handing her satchel to Ham while she remounted her horse. “Which way are we going?” she asked the two brothers.
“West,” Ham said.
“You think we should check the trail by the cliffs?” Ross asked Ham.
“We snuck over there and played when we were children,” Ham said. “I was thinking to look there first.”
“We had a couple of close of calls on those cliffs too if I remember right,” Ross said.
“That we did, brother,” Ham said, not being able to stop the grin from appearing.
“What kind of close calls?” Flora asked. “My Mither always told me to stay away from the cliffs.”
“So did our Da,” Ham said, “but sometimes we didn’t listen so well. There are caves up there if you know how to get to them.”
“I agree to look there first,” Ross said. “I hope we don’t find them.”
They rode silently until they reached the trail that led along the cliffs, where they had to dismount and walk up. The path was just too narrow and dangerous to take the horses along.
“Do you hear that?” Ross said to them.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Flora said.
“Stop for a second,” Ham said. Standing perfectly still and listening. “I hear something too.”
“I hear it now,” Flora said, shouldering her satchel. “I hope that’s them.”
They quickened their pace, the calls for help became more clear as they got closer to the top. As they came over a small rise, they saw one of the missing children lying on his belly, looking over the side.
“Are you alright?” Flora asked, running up to the boy who couldn’t have been older than three and ten summers.
“I’m alright,” the boy said, turning to her. Flora couldn’t help but notice the tears that were streaming down the boy’s cheeks. “My brother and sister are down there,” he told her, pointing down the side of the cliff.
“Can you see them?” Ham asked, lying on his belly and inching his way to the edge.
“They fell,” the boy said. “It’s my fault; I brought them here.”
“We’ll worry about blame later,” Flora said. “What’s your name?”
“Robert,” he told her. “My sister is Elaine, and my brother is Angus.”
“Elaine, Angus,” Ham yelled over the side. “Can you hear me?”
“I can hear you,” came a young boys voice, “but Elaine is hurt.”
“Angus,” Flora called down. “I need you to tell me where she’s hurt. Is she bleeding anywhere?”
“She’s bleeding from her head, and her leg is bent funny,” came the small voice. “I’m scared, and I want to go home.”
“We’re going to get you out,” Ross called down to the boy.
“They’re on a ledge,” Ham said to Flora and Ross. “I can barely see them. I’m not sure how strong the rock they’re standing on is. One of us is going to have to go down there.”
“I’ll go,” said Ross.
“Nay,” Flora told them both. “I have to go.”
“No way,” Ham said.
“Listen to me; there’s no time to argue,” Flora said, very forcefully. “It only makes sense for me to go. I weigh less than either of you, and I also need to see how badly the girl is hurt before we can bring them up.”
“I don’t like it,” Ham told her. “You could get hurt.”
“So could either of you,” she said to him. “You’ll tie a rope to me, and I’ll take another with me to tie around the children so you can pull them up.”
“She’s right,” Ross said to his brother. “It only makes sense for her to go.”
“What if it was your wife?” Ham said to him. “Would you still think it made
sense?”
“I wouldn’t like it,” Ross said. “Nay, I don’t like it now either, but think about it, Ham the girl is hurt and needs a healer.”
“Aye, You’re both right,” Ham said. Then he turned to Flora, “don’t you dare get hurt.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said to him, giving him a small grin. “Robert, I want you to run back to Gleann. Tell the guards we’ve found you and let them know what’s going on. They need to send more men.”
“I don’t want to leave Angus and Elaine,” Robert said. “I was supposed to keep them safe.”
“You will be helping by sending more men to help,” she softly reassured him. “Go now, quickly.” Robert looked over the side one more time before scooting back and running down the trail “Be careful,” Flora yelled after him.
“I’m going to go grab the rope off the horses,” Ross said. “I’ll be right back.”
“I really don’t like this,” Ham said to her.
“I know,” Flora said, leaning forward and giving him a soft kiss, “but it has to be done.”
“If you do anything to get hurt, I swear I’ll spank the daylights out of you when you get better,” he said, only half joking.
“I’ll be as careful as I can be,” she said to him.
“You better be,” he replied.
“Angus,” Flora yelled down. She could barely see the boy as the ledge went somewhat under the cliff overhang. How they ended up on it, she wasn’t sure.
“I’m here,” he called back up.
“I’m going to come down for you soon,” she said. “Just hang on.”
“I want my Maman,” Angus called back up, “I’m scared.”
“Maman?” Flora asked, looking at Ham.
“There Da was Scottish but their mother is Norman,” he quickly explained. Flora nodded she understood before turning her attention back to the children.
“How old are you, Angus?” she asked. Trying to calm him.
“Six summers,” he answered.
“And how old is Elaine?” she asked.
“Ten summers,” Angus called back.
“We’re going to get you to your Maman as soon as we can,” Flora said.
“Will Elaine be alright,” Angus asked her.
“I don’t know sweetheart until I get down there and have a look at her,” Flora said. “Has she awoke at all?”
“Not really,” Angus yelled. “She moans and moves around a little once in awhile. I’ve been afraid she was going to roll off the cliff.”
“Just do your best,” Flora said. “I’m coming down soon.”
“Here’s the rope,” Ross said as he ran back to them.
“I’m ready,” Flora said standing up.
Ham tied the rope around her waist himself, checking the knot he’d made multiple times. “I’ll lower your healing supplies and the extra rope down to you as soon as you’re safely on the ledge,” he told her.
“Aye,” she said. “I’m going to need both hands to get down anyways.”
“I’m tying a loop in this second rope, just loop it over the boy’s head and under his arms, and we’ll be able to pull him up easily enough,” Ross told her.
“Get on your belly and scoot back feet first,” Ham told her, “we’ll lower you down nice and easy.”
Flora took a deep breath, she didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared, heights had never been her thing. “I’m ready,” she said as she went to sit back on the ground. Ham grabbed her and pulled her to him, giving her a hard kiss.
“Be safe,” he said to her.
“I’ll do my best,” she said, then she sat, scooted to the edge, flipped over on her belly and let her legs hang over the side.
Ham and Ross carefully lowered her to where the children were. As soon as her feet were on the ledge, Angus flew into her arms sobbing.
“You’re going to be alright,” she said, hugging him close.“We’re going to get you out of here first.”
“What about Elaine?” Angus asked.
“I’m going to take care of Elaine,” she said to the boy, gently wiping the tears off his cheeks. “Don’t you worry.”
As Flora stepped towards the girl part of the edge of the ledge crumbled and fell away. The weight of all three of them seemed to be more than the ledge could handle. “Send down my bag and the rope,” she yelled up the Ham. “We need to get the boy out of here and take some of the weight off this ledge.”
“It’s coming now,” he told her. Flora watched as her bag was lowered. Once the rope was there, she squatted down in front of Angus.
“I’m going to put this rope around you,” she told him. “You just hang on tight, and they’re going to pull you up.”
“Is my brother up there?” he asked her.
“We sent Robert back to the village,” she told him. “My husband and his brother are up there though. They’ll get you back to your Maman.”
“You promise to take care of Elaine?” he asked her. “My Da said that Robert and I have to watch out for her. That’s a brother’s responsibility.”
“You did a good job taking care of her,” Flora said to him. “Now it’s my turn. Hang on tight now.”
“I’m scared,” he said.
“Ready,” Flora yelled up to Ham and Ross. Then as the rope grew taut, she said to Angus, “close your eyes and hang on tight.”
Flora only watched for a moment before turning to the little girl. She knelt down next to her to check her injuries, as she did more of the ledge crumbled and fell down the side of the cliff. She made a quick decision, one she knew her husband wouldn’t be happy with, she untied the rope from herself and put it around Elaine, making sure it was hooked underneath the girl’s arms as she tied it tightly.
She quickly cleaned Elaine’s head wound best she could before wrapping it in a bandage. There wasn’t much she could do for her leg until they had her more secure, she bent it back into the proper place, knowing she’d have to set it properly later.
“The boy is up,” Ham yelled. “Sending the rope back down.”
“The girl is tied,” Flora yelled. “The ledge is about to give way. Haul her up now.”
“She must have untied herself,” Ham said to Ross as Alastair and Craig came running up the trail to join them. “Lower the other rope, quick,” Ham yelled to his brothers.
Alastair didn’t ask any questions, he grabbed the rope and began lowering it to Flora as Ham and Ross carefully pulled the girl’s limp body up to the top of the cliff.
“Hurry,” they heard Flora yell as the ledge began to break apart underneath her. Her weight was just too much for it to hold.
Just as the rope came into reach the ledge gave way, Flora made a leap for it, catching it and throwing one arm into the loop Ham had made. The rope swung violently from her momentum, swinging her back into the cliff rock where she struck her head hard enough to see stars. She could feel herself being pulled up, but the rope still swung, and with each swing, her body would hit the rocks.
Flora felt herself begin to slip as she began to fade into blackness. The last thing she remembered was hitting the wall of the cliff one last time and thinking about Ham. How she wished she could have made him love her before it came to an end.
“Flora,” Ham yelled as Alastair and Craig pulled the rope up as quick as possible. Every time the rope swung back and slammed her into the cliff he was afraid she was going to let go. He could see her grip slipping as she inched closer to him. With one last hefty pull Ham was able to grab her just as she let go of the rope. “Help me, Ross,” he yelled to his brother as he struggled to pull her back over onto the trail.
“Got her,” Ross said. The two carefully pulled her up, and Ham gathered her into his arms.
“Flora?” Ham said. “Wake up now.” Flora just moaned.
“We need to get her to Ina,” he said. He picked her up in his arms as Ross picked up Elaine. Alastair grabbed hold of Angus and swung him up onto his shoulders as the group swiftly made their wa
y back to the horses.
Chapter 12 A Special Day
“Water,” Flora croaked as she came awake. She felt like she hadn’t had anything to drink in days.
“You’re finally awake,” Jacqueline said as she filled a cup and sat on the bed next to her. “Just little sips now.”
Flora took a few sips of the water; her throat felt much better after. “Elaine?” she asked her friend.
“Is fine thanks to you,” Jacqueline said to her. “You’re quite the hero in the village from what I hear.”
“I’m not a hero,” she protested.
“That’s not what your husband said,” Jacqueline told her as she nodded towards a chair in the corner where Ham was sleeping.
“Is he alright?” Flora asked.
Jacqueline laughed, telling her, “he’s just tired. He hasn’t left your side for two days. I’ve never seen my brother so worried about anyone before.”
“Two days?” Flora asked.
“You’ve been sleeping for two days,” Jacqueline explained. “Ina said you hit your head pretty hard, but the rest of you got pretty battered as they were trying to get you out of there.”
“The ledge gave way,” Flora remembered, “and the rope was swinging because I had to jump and grab it.”
“Ham and Ross told us,” Jacqueline said. Ham must have heard them talking as he quickly came awake.
“She’s awake?” he asked his sister.
“She is,” Jacqueline said. “I’m going to go let Ina know and give you two a few minutes of privacy.”
Ham watched his sister leave the room before turning to his wife, “how are you feeling?” he asked.
“Everything hurts,” she answered truthfully.
“I’m sure it does,” he said. “I think my heart stopped every time you hit the cliff. I was so afraid you were going to fall.”
“I remember the rope slipping,” Flora said to him.
“It did,” Ham said. “I was able to grab you just as it slipped off. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life.”
“Me either,” Flora said, tears pooling in her eyes.
The Man of Her Dreams Page 9